by
Tim Poyorena-Miguel

Pedro Ygnacio Delarrequi Pollorena (Basque) was born
in Villa de Sinaloa, Sinaloa, Mexico. He was married to Maria Antonia (Miranda)
Rosalia Ochoa on April 20, 1790 in Comondu, Baja, California, Mexico. They
had seven children.

Pedro arrived in San Diego early in 1792 and soon
became a corporal by 1797. Finally ordered to the new territory
of Alta, he soon became in command of the mission San Gabriel and
Escolta by July 1, 1798. He held that post until 1801. In 1805
he settled in Los Angeles and was still living there in 1816.

His son, Juan de Jesus Poyorena, was born in 1792.
He married Joaquina Ana Sepulveda of the illustrious Sepulveda family.
Their eldest son, Eduardo Poyorena Sr., born in 1825, was married to Maria
Antonia Dolores (Colima) Sanchez. Together they produced Eduardo
Poyorena Jr.

On February 1, 1854 Eduardo Sr. purchased inheritance
land from Pedro Perez, son of Tomasa Ontiveros, daughter of
Don Patricio Ontiveros for the sum of $1000.

The land known as “Paso del Bartola” originally
granted to Juan Crispen Perez bounded on the east by the Rancho of the
“Coyotes,” on the south by Rancho Santa Gertrudes, on the west by the river
of San Gabriel and on the north by the Rancho of Puente.

One of the most popular Dons of the period was
Eduardo Poyorena Jr. He was born on October 11, 1853 in Los Nietos,
Alta California.

The Poyorena family settled in the area, about
1800, on the Manuel Nieto land grant which was later known as the township
of Los Nietos.

Eduardo Jr. had six children (Joaquin, Maria Dolores
Rafaela, Reginaldo, Antonia, Eduardo Alexandero, Lamberto) and often he
and wife Dolores (Elizalde born December 1852) often took in orphaned children
and acted as legal guardians.

Eduardo Sr., the other founder of the Los Nietos
Water Company, the county Marshal (constable), Judge of the planes for
Rancho Santa Gertrudes (a position held by only the most respected of citizens);
Eduardo and wife Antonia were instrumental in setting up the first school
district in Los Nietos and served as the first board of trustees.

Eduardo Sr. also served on the Los Angeles County
Board of Supervisors (1866-1869) several terms.

The priest from the old mission of San Gabriel
would come to the Poyorena rancho and offer holy mass but more frequently
from the El pueblo de Nuestra Sonora La Reina de Los Angeles de Porciuncula
(Los Angeles Plaza Church.)

The parties held at the Poyorena Rancho were renown
and often lasted many days. The Ramirez boys were gifted musicians and
often played for the Poyorena's fandangos.

Settlers began arriving in 1865 relocating from
Texas and other southern states in the aftermath of the Civil War.

There are many versions of how John Gately Downey
started the city of Downey. In our family Great Grandfather, Eduardo Sr.,
sold Downey the property to start his city.

The title of trust shows that Downey purchased
a parcel of land from Eduardo Poyorena Sr. John Downey later moved
into the property (Poyorena adobe) and lived there a short time. In 1892,
General Peter Swaine bought the adobe and then his grandson Wallace Wiggins
remodeled the adobe adding another wing.

Eduardo Sr.’s good friend Rafael Peralta was land
poor and to help him out Eduardo bought 2,973.02 acres in distant Rancho
Santiago de Santa Ana in 1855. There Eduardo built at least one adobe and
lived there for several years. Today's area of Paularino in Costa
Mesa, California is named in Eduardo's honor as well as Paularino park
and elementary school.

Eduardo Jr. and wife Dolores are buried at Founders
Park, located in Whittier, along with many cousins from the Sanchez (from
New Mexico) and Colima/Sanchez families. Four brothers from the Poyorena
family married four sisters of the Colima/ Sanchez family.

In 1886 while still on patrol as constable, Eduardo
Sr. was in Rendon’s local saloon before his long ride home when he
met Clemente Morillo. Morillo had told a story to Eduardo, about
a man that shot and killed his son. Eduardo advised him to find out
the exact whereabouts of the murderer of his son, and that then he would
be arrested. They parted on the best of terms. Eduardo left the saloon
and led his horse down the street. Just before mounting his horse
he ran into a friend, Garcia, and spoke for a few minutes. Just then
Morillo, who had been drinking, stepped out of the saloon and with his
colt 45 fired in the direction of the constable his bullet passing
through the forearm of the constable and striking his watch, inflicting
a severe bruise in his side. The bullet mutilated the heavy silver
watch, but saved Eduardo’s life. Eduardo did return fire but was
so stunned by the wound he received that he handed his pistol to Garcia,
who fired twice at Morillo, who ran away in the dark. Eduardo fully recovered
and remained constable for another 20 years.

The third son of Eduardo Poyorena Jr. was Reginaldo.
He married Leonora Margarita Zuniga. Her lineage shows that in her paternal
line she is descended from Don Gaspar de Zuniga, viceroy for Mexico in
the state of Monterey from 1595 to 1603 and a Zuniga of the line was a
companion of father Junipero Serra when he founded the California missions.
Her maternal grandfather, Jose Augustin Davis was a son of mountain man,
Martin Antonio Davis, who went to Albuquerque, New Mexico, from Missouri
when New Mexico was part of old Mexico. Her maternal grandmother, Venancia
Davis, was the daughter of Maria and Jerome (Geronimo) Pena, Luseno Indians
who were neophytes at mission San Luis Rey.

Leonora's maternal grandparents, Venancia and
Jose Augustin Davis, were married in the old San Gabriel mission (La Mission
Vieja) on April 12, 1851, by the reverend Domingo Serrano in the presence
of two prominent early Californians, Franciso Pliny Fiske Temple and Margarita
Workman Temple.Jose Augustin Davis, and big brother, Juan de
Jesus Davis, sons of Martin Antonio Davis (married to Maria Josepha Sanchez,
Juan Matias's sister) and Francisco Sanchez Davis were born in Albuquerque,
New Mexico. They arrived in California sometime before 1849 with Juan Matias
Sanchez and two Basye brothers. They were great friends and all settled
in the old mission district which is the area now occupied by Whittier
Narrows dam.

Manuel Maria de las Mercedes Zuniga, father of
Leonora, was the son of Jose del Refugio Zuniga and Maria Verdugo Zuniga
who were married at San Gabriel mission in 1840. Both Jose and Maria had
been married before, he successively to Dolores Maria Romero and Juan Verdugo
and she to Teodoro Romero.

Manuel Zuniga’s sister, Maria Zuniga married family
friend James Rawson and had a very large rancho in San Jacinto.

When Manuel Zuniga and Carmel Davis (Leonora’s
mother) were married Oct. 21 1870, he was 26, and she 19. They were listed
as residents of Old Mission, as were their witnesses, Rafael Basye and
Jesus Visa.

Nora (christened Leonora) and her sister, Lucinda,
and their brother, David, lost their mother when they were very young,
and their father then married Lucinda Amanda Temple, daughter of F.P.F.
and Margarita Workman Temple. Both Manuel and Lucinda are buried in the
Workman/Temple Homestead memorial mausoleum along with last Mexican governor
Pio Pico.

Nora’s grandfather, Jose Davis died as a young
man and is buried in the adjacent cemetery, El Campo Santo.

Nora and her sister and brother lived with their
grandmother, Venancia Davis at Old Mission and visited their father and
stepmother at the old Temple adobe which was known as Temple’s Four Corners.

Nora’s grandmother, Venancia Davis, reared her
children and grand children on an eight-acre place (Petrero Chico) near
the present San Gabriel Blvd. She was born Sept. 3, 1880 at Old Mission
and baptized at San Gabriel mission Feb. 6 1881. Her grandmother (Venancia)
died when Nora was 14 and after an interval with relatives she married
Reginaldo Poyorena and her sister Lucinda married Reginaldo’s brother Lamberto.

Reginaldo and Nora lived in the Poyorena adobe
for a short time before buying their own home from Reginaldo’s uncle Bernardino
Guirado the owner of the Pioneer store, for $200. They had 3 children,
Rex Jr., Tomas, and Lucinda.

After Reginaldo’s death (1915), Mrs. Poyorena
eventually married Joseph Hartnell. She bore two more children, Evelyn
Jesse Hartnell and Carlos Santos Hartnell.

The Pasadena street home in Whittier that Nora
and Reginaldo bought from uncle Bernardino Guirado and had it moved from
Los Nietos to Whittier in 1905, is still standing and is occupied with
descendants.

The Bernardino Guirado Store in the early 1900s showing
his home in the back that he sold to his nephew Reginaldo and wife Leonora
Poyorena for $200.

Leonora Poyorena on the porch of her home that was moved
in 1905 from Los Nietos to Whittier. She is holding her son Tomas while
her daughter Lucinda and other son Rex Jr. pose. House believed to be built
in the 1840s. Photo taken in 1912.

Still standing today (2005) on Pasadena Street in Whittier,
California, and still occupied with Poyorena descendants.